[senior citizen]

Pasta with Beans
("Pasta con Fagioli" – "Pasta e Fasuoli")

The soup of Pasta e Fasuoli is one of the most known minestra. This soup is made all over Italy, and every region tries to add different ingredients.

In north Italy the traditional ingredients used are carrots, celery, onions, lard, garlic, sage, parsley and bay leaves; as you go down the boot the ingredients decrease and in the southern tip of Italy, in Calabria, where ground fennel seeds are added, the soup has a faint taste of beans because it’s overwhelmed by the strong fennel aroma.

The traditional Pasta e Fagioli in Sicily is made with soaked dry beans, onion, salt, pepper, olive oil, some lard or prociutto and even more important, the pasta has to be cooked with the beans, which gives that traditional homemade taste not found in restaurant cooking.

To make the vegetarian version, eliminate the lard or prociutto’s skin.

SERVES 4 TO 6

INGREDIENTS
1 lb. dry beans, soaked for 36 to 48 hours
¾ lb. ditalini or spaghetti broken very short
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
1 teaspoon of lard or ½ lb. Prociutto‘s skin (optional)
Crushed red pepper to taste
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to drizzle on the pasta

PREPARATION
The Beans:
Inspect dry beans for any small stones or foreign article, rinse well. Soak the beans in a large pot with plenty of water for 36 to 48 hours, changing the water two or three times.

In a 5 ½ quart sauté pan, place 3 tablespoons of oil, the diced onion and the optional skin or lard.

Cook over medium heat for a few minutes stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent. Add drained beans and enough water to be 2 inches above the beans. Bring to a boil then simmer covered for 45 minutes.

Keep a pot with boiling water, to add to beans for cooking pasta or if the soup becomes too dry. Liquid should be 1 inch above beans.

Test beans for doneness if they are ready set aside, or simmer beans until soft but not overcooked. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and black pepper to your taste. Cool a few minutes, transfer 1/3 of beans to a vegetable strainer or a blender, puree them and return to the pot.

The Pasta:
Add 2 cups of hot water to the beans soup, bring to a boil and add the pasta. Cook pasta and fagioli at a medium heat, stirring frequently and scraping the bottom. If it becomes to dry add some of the boiling water. When pasta is tender, taste and adjusts for salt.

Remove from the heat, add 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and serve with crushed red pepper on the side and lots of crusty Italian bread.


"Pasta con Fagioli Veloce"
"Pasta e Fasuoli Presto")
Pasta with Beans can be prepared quickly, using canned beans that taste almost as good as the beans soaked overnight.

Use 2 cans of 14 oz. white cannelini beans; drain the beans and rinse under running water.

Sautee onions and lard. Mash 1 can of beans using a fork, vegetable strainer or a blender to puree them, add to the pot; add the other can of beans and enough water to be 2 inches above the beans level.

Follow above directions.
NOTE: Obviously, I do not use LARD. I use olive oil.

[2BNTV]

Originally Posted by senior citizen

Pasta with Beans
("Pasta con Fagioli" – "Pasta e Fasuoli")

The soup of Pasta e Fasuoli is one of the most known minestra. This soup is made all over Italy, and every region tries to add different ingredients.

In north Italy the traditional ingredients used are carrots, celery, onions, lard, garlic, sage, parsley and bay leaves; as you go down the boot the ingredients decrease and in the southern tip of Italy, in Calabria, where ground fennel seeds are added, the soup has a faint taste of beans because it’s overwhelmed by the strong fennel aroma.

The traditional Pasta e Fagioli in Sicily is made with soaked dry beans, onion, salt, pepper, olive oil, some lard or prociutto and even more important, the pasta has to be cooked with the beans, which gives that traditional homemade taste not found in restaurant cooking.

To make the vegetarian version, eliminate the lard or prociutto’s skin.

SERVES 4 TO 6

INGREDIENTS
1 lb. dry beans, soaked for 36 to 48 hours
¾ lb. ditalini or spaghetti broken very short
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
1 teaspoon of lard or ½ lb. Prociutto‘s skin (optional)
Crushed red pepper to taste
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to drizzle on the pasta

PREPARATION
The Beans:
Inspect dry beans for any small stones or foreign article, rinse well. Soak the beans in a large pot with plenty of water for 36 to 48 hours, changing the water two or three times.

In a 5 ½ quart sauté pan, place 3 tablespoons of oil, the diced onion and the optional skin or lard.

Cook over medium heat for a few minutes stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent. Add drained beans and enough water to be 2 inches above the beans. Bring to a boil then simmer covered for 45 minutes.

Keep a pot with boiling water, to add to beans for cooking pasta or if the soup becomes too dry. Liquid should be 1 inch above beans.

Test beans for doneness if they are ready set aside, or simmer beans until soft but not overcooked. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and black pepper to your taste. Cool a few minutes, transfer 1/3 of beans to a vegetable strainer or a blender, puree them and return to the pot.

The Pasta:
Add 2 cups of hot water to the beans soup, bring to a boil and add the pasta. Cook pasta and fagioli at a medium heat, stirring frequently and scraping the bottom. If it becomes to dry add some of the boiling water. When pasta is tender, taste and adjusts for salt.

Remove from the heat, add 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and serve with crushed red pepper on the side and lots of crusty Italian bread.


"Pasta con Fagioli Veloce"
"Pasta e Fasuoli Presto")
Pasta with Beans can be prepared quickly, using canned beans that taste almost as good as the beans soaked overnight.

Use 2 cans of 14 oz. white cannelini beans; drain the beans and rinse under running water.

Sautee onions and lard. Mash 1 can of beans using a fork, vegetable strainer or a blender to puree them, add to the pot; add the other can of beans and enough water to be 2 inches above the beans level.

Follow above directions.
NOTE: Obviously, I do not use LARD. I use olive oil.

You sure know how to give, "the willie", to this Italian. If I read this, later in the day, I would try making it. LOL

Pasta fagioli pronouned, "Pasta Fa Sool", by my family, was the staple dish, when my mother came to ths country in 1926. Also pasta, or as we called it, "macaroni" with gravy, or as most people say today, "sauce". A luxury was chicken on Sunday's, (once a week).

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by 2BNTV

You sure know how to give, "the willie", to this Italian. If I read this, later in the day, I would try making it. LOL

Pasta fagioli pronouned, "Pasta Fa Sool", by my family, was the staple dish, when my mother came to ths country in 1926. Also pasta, or as we called it, "macaroni" with gravy, or as most people say today, "sauce". A luxury was chicken on Sunday's, (once a week).

Oh oh, not trying to give anyone the willies......you mean deja vu?
You know, we Italians were "vegetarians" before anyone ever coined the word. We were raised on beans and greens and veggies and fruits. Similar background to you. My Italian grandparents came over in 1890; my dad was born in 1899. All of N.Y.C. was his playground.

As I said in earlier post, everything old is new again.

However, I cannot get hooked on "kale". Our adult kids made some "kale chips" when we were at the Maine seacoast for two weeks. Could not get rid of that smell, even with all of the windows open.......and a beautiful seabreeze........

My favorite greens were spinach, escarole, broccoli, basil and mint from the garden, etc.

Joe, you can make the "quick version" using as many cans of Progresso white cannellini beans as you wish; mash some of them. Another can of crushed tomatoes and some chicken broth. Add some small tiny pasta at the end.....like ditilini. Or, broken spaghetti, elbows, etc. Hope you have some Italian dried spices on hand like oregano and basil.........and some cloves of garlic and some onions.

Pass the parm and mangia. Don't forget the crusty bread, which my dad always used to wipe his plate. NOT GOOD MANNERS TODAY but that's what they did. Those immigrant kids didn't waste a morsel.


p.s. We also pronounced it as pasta fazool.

[rubicon]

Sorry but its pasta f-a-g-i-o-l-i not pasta fazool. My brother and I have had that argument over the years . He says fazool I say fagioli. but we both agree it is good. In fact I am a gourmet when it comes to peasant food

[Blessed2BNTV]

Originally Posted by 2BNTV

You sure know how to give, "the willie", to this Italian. If I read this, later in the day, I would try making it. LOL

Pasta fagioli pronouned, "Pasta Fa Sool", by my family, was the staple dish, when my mother came to ths country in 1926. Also pasta, or as we called it, "macaroni" with gravy, or as most people say today, "sauce". A luxury was chicken on Sunday's, (once a week).

From one 2B to another - love hearing about macaroni and gravy. We are from Brooklyn and grandparents are from the old country!

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by rubicon

Sorry but its pasta f-a-g-i-o-l-i not pasta fazool. My brother and I have had that argument over the years . He says fazool I say fagioli. but we both agree it is good. In fact I am a gourmet when it comes to peasant food

No matter as long as it taste delicious, right.
Look at my original title. Pasta Fagioli. Macaroni and Beans.


p.s. I went back to look and it's Pasta con Fagioli also called Pasta e Fasuoli (This is Sicilian or Southern Italian)
That would "sound" like Pasta Fazool.........so we are all correct.

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by Blessed2BNTV

From one 2B to another - love hearing about macaroni and gravy. We are from Brooklyn and grandparents are from the old country!

DITTO. Guess you've missed the controversy re the "gravy" vs. the "sauce" as no matter how explicitly I explained that :

When I was a kid, my dad and my mom, plus my grandmother and all her daughters, etc. and the uncles as well........called it "gravy". They made a huge pot on Sunday and it lasted all week.

I've been informed that gravy only means the brown kind that is served with roast beef. I get that. But, these were peasant types from Laurenzana Potenza Basilicata in the "boot" of Italia.....plus a faction was also from Sicily.....the island close to southern Italy that was also populated by the Greeks (as was Laurenzana back in the 11th century.) thus there is a Greek influence on the cooking style.

As I mentioned, these were peasants from southern Italy (plus their immediate descendants raised in "Little Italy N.Y.C. and Brooklyn".......and they called it gravy as in "Sunday Gravy" with all the meats in it......like :

Bracciole, pork spareribs, meatballs, sweet and hot Italian sausage......it all went into the pot of "GRAVY", even chicken at times.

They also called the pasta "macaroni" as did we in the "sticks" of New Jersey.

This is all circa 1940's and 1950's when I was a kid.

My grandparents came in 1890.......

By the time 1960 arrived and we were married in 1965 at age 20, I began calling it "sauce" or "pasta sauce" in the 1970's and 80s and thereafter to this day, do I call it SAUCE.

But my Italian family in New York City and in Brooklyn and on Staten Island and Long Island called it "gravy" as did the Sopranos in northern New Jersey (just added that on a lark).

We were raised in New Jersey in a mixed neighborhood of Germans, Irish and Italians.........and all of our Italian friends mother's called it "gravy"...........

I do believe it was GENERATIONAL.

But, welcome to the "gravy and macaroni" bunch.

For the life of me, I still cannot understand why some do not believe what others experienced growing up. We are 69 years old and it was a different generation from the pasta and sauce.
Back then , it was macaroni and gravy.

There were even non Italians telling me that their "neighbor" called it sauce so that had to be correct. Go figure.

Very nostalgic just to think back to those huge family gatherings which are no more as everyone is GONE.